Chapter 1 - Bad Beginnings

Sophia

The city of Talesin was in an unusual commotion the last few days. One would expect if they didn't know better, that the people of this small mining town were preparing for a festival or day of celebration.

Being the capital of the proud but ultimately unimportant Zembian Kingdom, there was not much of interest going on most of the time. On some occasions they saw the arrival of diplomats and high ranking merchants asking for an audience with the aging Queen Sophia Mathir, but at the end of the day no one was ever truly interested in the country.

They didn't bother anyone and in turn they also were left alone by other countries. This time though everything was different. Because the visitor that was bound to come was no lowly lackey, no merchant or diplomat, instead it was Emperor Angus the Third himself.

Seen by some as a benevolent and just ruler others despised him for his fanatic views and extreme methods, not one could disagree that he was in fact very competent at what he does. Rebellions were cut down swift and efficient and the Sibalien Empire prospered under his rule. Even if knowledge of his deeds was wide spread the reason for his visit was in fact a mystery to the population and officials alike, except for one.

Queen Sophia knew the reasoning behind the visit as well as the events that were bound to play out in the days and weeks following. She sighed at the thought of it, taking a last look at the well kept but unimpressive flowerbeds beneath her balcony she turned away into the humble room she called her quarters.

She had made her decision and she would stand by it no matter the cost. Emperor Angus had made his demands and she had not accepted them. All that she could do know was try and minimize the damage. She turned towards her waiting chambermaid.

"I will need the blue dress today Milinda."

"Yes, my lady! The one with the corset right?"

Sophia looked at the young maid disappointed. Her old maid had died last week of a heart-attack and Milinda was still new at her job and frankly not very good at it.

"Milinda, how often did I tell you to simply call me Sophia?" The girl bowed deeply.

"My apologies, my lady."

"Sophia!"

"Yes, Miss Sophia! I will think of it from now on."

She scurried away to fetch the dress and the Queen sighed once again. Her old maid had been in her service for now almost 25 years she had been the last one left of the old times and now even she had abandoned Sophia. She did not fear death, it was an evil not even the long lived Magi could avoid in the end but she did fear leaving her people in this time of peril. In all her years as a queen she never gave birth to children and in turn once she died no-one was there to take her place. It was about time that Sophia decided what to do with her little country but that day would have to wait. Until after she had dealt with her uninvited guests.

"Milinda! Where are you at?"

The girl finally came back with the dress the queen had ordered. She clearly was in over her head; the dress hung sloppily from her arms and the corseted undergarment almost fell to the floor. With an amusing thought lady Sophia let out yet another sigh, maybe this day will be once known as the day the world sighed.

"Child! What are you doing? Have you not picked up a dress like this before?" Milinda attempted to quickly bow in-front of her new Mistress, but as one would expect in this situation, in doing so she dropped most of what she was holding on to the ground.

"I'm so terribly sorry, my lady! I have no excuse for my misdeeds, please except my deepest apologies!" She looked terribly frightened as she knew all too well the stories about Queen Sophia, a cold and cunning lady she was supposed to be, one that does not take well to poor work and failure.

"I shall immediately pick up everything I dropped and dress you my lady!" Sophia did not really care for how well her maid performed; she only had hired her as an alternative to being thrown in the dungeon for theft.

"It is okay, I'll do it myself, just help me with the corset." A wave of relief washed over Milinda, even though she had never worn a corset herself she sure would know how to help someone into it. The young maid picked up her lady's undergarments and handed them to the old but still pretty woman. After a few moments of tugging and pulling Milinda was very happy about her work.Sophia was at a loss of words, what girl did not know how to close a corset?

"Milinda, please go and get the court Thaumaturge please."

"Very well, miss Sophia! But might I ask what for? You are not even properly dressed yet!" Lady Sophia rolled her eyes, which was a rater odd thing to do for an elderly queen.

"Just go!" Her maids eyes widened again.

"Yes, in an instance, my lady!" Milinda bowed quickly and proceeded down the stair leading to the lower floor.

Milinda

She was in such a hurry, that she almost ran over the old cook who was preparing the breakfast for the queen.

"Ye, damn, young whipper snapper! Can't ye damn look where ye a going!"

"Sorry, Hamod, can't wait for you to get out of the way." Milinda stopped in her tracks and span around to the senile decrepit man.

"You don't know by any chance where I could find Lady Belsain?" Hamod opened one of his eyes in a rather creepy fashion and glared at the maid.

“What do ye know o' Lords a' Ladies silly lad! All they do is take, a' take, a' take!" He erupted into a heavy fit of coughing, saliva dripping down onto the tablet he was holding.

"Just, forget it old man, I'll find her myself."

She quickly ran on towards the Thaumaturges tower. While she couldn't be certain that the Magi was in fact there, she often kept on working until late in the night and sometimes even in the early hours of the morning. The tower was not really more impressive than the rest of the manor, a small round-about stairway leading to a spacious room on top. Once it was a guard-tower, but a few years ago Lady Belsain turned it into her private chambers or in other words a mix between dressing room and laboratory.

While Milinda had not spoken to the Thaumaturge herself yet, she certainly had heard tales of her stunning beauty. Coming closer she could already hear the commotion from behind the closed door. As knocking on the door did not yield any results the young maid shrugged and entered the room.

"Lady Belsain?"

Standing over a delicate looking apparatus was a raven haired magi with the typical luminescent white skin and filigree black markings on her skin. She was facing away from Milinda, but it seemed like she was already dressed in a tight white dress where several straps and buckles bound and wrapped around her light frame, digging just slightly into the skin. Milinda approached a bit closer taken at awe by her appearance.

"Are just going to keep standing there little girl, or do you intend on actually talking to me?" The voice of Lady Belsain was surprisingly dark for a woman of her beauty. It felt like crushing coal in your hands.

"I'm sorry my lady, the queen wishes to speak with you. She said it was urgent!" The magi did not even bother interrupting her experiment.

"Before I can go to the queen, I need to finish up this experiment. I have worked for almost 5 hours now to get this Coulumniscope to just the right settings and I will not abandon it to help with some unimportant matters. Even I have my pride!" The maid fidgeted in her place, clearly uncomfortable.

"But the queen!"

A slight clicking sound came from in front of Lady Belsain. In one fluid motion she turned around to the startled girl. Her face featured the same markings that Milinda had seen from the back, but instead of disfiguring her they seemingly added to her beauty. The only thing off about the magi's appearance was the lack of breasts what so ever. Lady Belsain stared at Milinda in a rater hostile way, making clear what she thought of being interrupted. Just a second later though a fiendish glint crossed her silvery eyes.

"I have a proposal, Malidia was it?" Before Milinda could even answer she was swiftly cut off by the thaumaturge.

"I make it simple, place this Setting Stone in the apparatus, exactly when I tell you to and we can go visit the queen."

She reached back and handed the young girl an egg sized blue-green crystal. It was round and polished to a beautiful shine. Whilst she had seen Setting Stones before, she had not used one of the magica storing stones herself, due to them being expensive and Milinda coming from a rather poor family.

"Go over there child."

Lady Belsain gesticulated towards a small nudge on the far side of the table. Through a narrow window a patch of light illuminated the floor, revealing a severely charred floor with several ominous scratch marks on the wooden boards.

"Milady, are sure that this is save?" Milinda looked uneasy to the spot where she was supposed to stand. The Thaumaturge was busy in her work and answered without even looking up.

"Oh, yes it is perfectly fine what so ever. Just stand still for a moment."

She lifted up what looked like several of the stones Milinda held just smaller and placed each of them into groves around the Coulumniscope. Laying her hand on a small part of the device she began to breath slower. The hair on Milindas arm started to rise as the air grew colder and the smaller setting stones started to pulse in a rhythm.

"Lay down the crystal, now!"

As fast as she possibly could Milinda jammed the stone into the grove in front of her. Still the air grew colder and an odd sphere started to form between the grooves. Lady Belsain immediately withdrew her hand from the device.

"Aww, damn it, Malida get in cover!" With a loud popping sound the now almost 20 cm in radius sphere collapsed but not before a small apelike creature fell out of it. The thaumaturge perked up, and looked through the room.

"Okay, went worse than expected but better than could have. Well whatever."

She turned around to find Milinda cautiously staring at the creature that had appeared but was still unconscious.

"You, girl, catch that animal and clean up my notes will you? Meanwhile I'll go see what our queen is up to." With not another word the magi went to the stairs an left the maid alone with the odd animal.

Sophia

The queen had been waiting for way too long now, even though she was still fit for her age, the years had certainly left their marks on her. She couldn't walk as fast anymore and standing for long quickly became an unbearable pain. As her back became more noticeable and her feet more tired she sat down in front of a small desk, on it, besides the food her cook had brought up, still lying the letter she had received two days ago.

"To the Royal Queen Sophia Mathir, Queen of Zembia,

his magnificence Emperor Angus Bloomest the Third, Emperor of the Sibalien Empire, Chosen of the Burned God, Leader of the Holy Order of the Erupting Sun, praise be to him and his kin, has been informed of your decision to disregard the advice given to you and your state in a royal decree. As of such his wise Magnificence has generously send a group of Paladins and soldiers to aid your women and men in defending the borders of the Zembian Kingdom and aiding in keeping the peace inside the capital city-walls itself. These brave women and men led by the Emperors glory himself shall arrive at your seat of power in the morning of the second day after arrival of this letter. Then, his Magnificence will discuss the matters of his help to your country.

Praise be to Ethos the Burned God and his Magnificence Emperor Angus Bloomest the Third.

Signed,

First Royal Scribe,

Druella Coldwell

Royal decree her arse, that damnable thing was not worth the paper it was written on. A vile threat that's all it was, how could these rat fucking Imperials even thing that she would betray her own people.

Sophias husband had told her to be wary of their Eastern Neighbors but as always she had ignored the ramblings of the senile King, even on his death bed he wouldn't shut up about foreign invaders and crazy conspiracies. She truly missed that dork, even when he grew more and more paranoid over the years, he had never stop showing his affection to her.

A slight smile stole its way onto the queen lips and in fit of defiance she ripped the letter in two and threw it into the same bin that formerly the royal decree had found its final resting place in.

"That's what I think of your help, Emperor."

The door to Queen Sophia’s room opened with an ever so slight click and in came Lady Belsain. A bright grin on her face she stalked closer to the old woman very well knowing that she couldn't hear her approach. Just when the magi wanted to plant her hands on the queen shoulders her coarse voice spoke up.

"While my ears might have failed me over the years, don't you think I might notice the shadow of your figure approaching? One might think that one of the famed Magi would consider such things, isn't that right Lord Belsain?" The magi began to laugh and gave the old woman a kiss on the head.

"How mean of you to call me a lord, while I'm dressed so rather fabulously. I picked this dress just for our most esteemed guests to arrive. Don't you think it fits me?" With the ease of a dancer he whirled around making the lose straps on the dress spin.

"Leave it to my Thaumaturge to make all the actual females look bad in comparison. You are truly too beautiful for being a male." A dry chuckle escaped Sophia’s lips.

"Maybe I should have relieved you of that secret years ago so I wouldn't have to fight this dusty, old body now." In a rater splendid display of grace Lord Belsain performed a courteous bow.

"I fear that I may have to disappoint you my Queen, but my beauty is part of me as much as my genitals. But I come to think that you did not let call for me in an attempt to woo me. What is it that your Highness desires, Sophia?"

"First of all I had called for you some time ago and I did not expect to have to wait so long. What kept you busy?" Amused by the stern look his queen was showing Lord Belsain raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, nothing much, just distorting the very fabric of time and the material plane. You know everyday Thaumaturge stuff."

"So you admit to favoring your study's over helping your Queen? What a wonderful example you are providing for my new maid. Where did you leave her anyway?"

"Just cleaning up after me, as I expected her being useless in whatever you need, otherwise you wouldn't have called for me, nor would you?"

"Very well Lord Belsain as much of a wise arse as always, there are two things I have to ask of you, the first thing would be your abilities to properly close a corset. Milinda did certainly not receive any education in the matter, or much of anything else I fear." Queen Sophia stood up and with nimble and certainly trained hands the thaumaturge quickly closed the dress's laces in an old but beautiful design.

"Nothing easier than this, now I hope the second task is just as exciting as this one." Sophia turned to her most trusted adviser with a worried look.

"I fear I may have to disappoint you Belsain, the second thing I'll ask of you is of a much more serious sort."